Xi learns about protection, preservation of local cultural heritage in millennium-old grottoes

Restoration work is actively underway at the Maijishan Grottoes in northwest China’s Gansu Province to protect and preserve local cultural heritage.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, inspected the city of Baoji in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province and the city of Tianshui in neighboring Gansu Province.

Xi visited the two cities from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning.

In Tianshui, Xi went to the Fuxi Temple, the Maijishan Grottoes, and a local apple production base to learn about the protection and preservation of local cultural heritage and the development of the modern specialty fruit industry in mountainous areas.

Maijishan Grottoes is one of China’s four largest Buddhist cave complexes, along with Mogao, Yungang and Longmen grottoes in Gansu, Shanxi and Henan provinces, respectively. Known as the “Oriental Sculpture Museum”, the grottoes are world-famous for its exquisite clay sculpture art.

The grottoes are seated on a towering peak at 142 meters which resembles a stack of wheat, hence its name “Maijishan”, which literally means “Wheat stack Mountain”.

The grottoes have a history of more than 1,600 years and were originally built in the Later Qin era. Maijishan hosts over 221 grottoes, 10,600 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of murals, which is of great aesthetic value.

In 2014, the Maijishan Grottoes were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the “Silk Roads: The Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor” site.

Due to natural humidity and erosion, cracks have appeared on some caves and some sculptures and murals are in a state of decay.

In recent years, local authorities have excelled in protecting, restoring, and preserving cultural relics in grottoes using scientific methods such as continuous reinforcement, restoration, seepage control, biological management, and digital documentation. They have also actively promoted the inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese sculptures.